Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Quick Egg Pulao

I want to. But I can't. Every morning I try to think something intelligent, or witty, or intelligent and witty, so that I can tweet it. But I can't. Nothing remotely clever pops up in my mind.

All I can think of is things like "I washed my hair today. It smells nice". But I don't tweet that. Why would anyone want to know, I think. Why, even the husband does not have time to stop and smell my hair, how can I expect 75 million Twitterers to be enlightened by that piece of news.

I can say how my morning was, how I drank my tea with two multigrain nabisco crackers, crackers because my stash of Marie and Parle G is depleted, depleted as in it is zero now. So until I go to the Indian Grocers and get my next supply of Britannia Marie and Parle G, I am stuck with multigrain crackers,which taste like cardboard but not as bad as cardboard, they are easily digestible, cardboard is not.

There, a vital piece of my personal life could be out there but twitter does not allow more than 140 characters. I am sure Twitter's founder Dorsey was scarred for life by a child like BS. You ask BS how her day was and you are stuck for the next hour, listening to how many times she scrubbed her hand with Purell in school.

"Keep it short", I tell her. "Give me the central idea", I say. "You will never be able to Tweet. People have no time these days to listen to long prattles. They spend it describing life in several 140 character snippets", I want to say.

LS, I think would make a good Tweeterer. Her sentences are short, 3 words at the most, rest is action, she can do video tweets.

So I thought I will ask a question instead, on tweeter and here. A simple 10 word question.

"Why does my rice tend to break in a Pulao?"

Why, even if the Pulao turns out tasting really good, some of the rice grains break. Why, my Dad asks, how I managed to break the rice grains as he thinks that is what made the Pulao tasty.

Is it something to do with the brand of rice I buy, for it is one of the cheaper ones. I think I have clinched a deal or something if I pick up a cheaper brand of rice, the kinds which say "Buy 1, get 2 free".

But if it is the brand, how come the grains remain perfect when my Mom makes a Pulao. I could ask her this question but I want to get as many opinions as possible. I also want to Tweet.

So please tell me here or on Twitter, "Why does my rice tend to break in a Pulao?"

After you are done, you won't have much time, so make this quick Egg Pulao, which is easy and totally delicious, broken rice or not. Kids will love this one, for once BS does. Ok, and she also makes a great Raita to go with it.

1 medium onion4 cloves of garlic1" peeled and chopped ginger1/2 cup of corriander8-10 mint leavesNote: Add very little water while making this paste, maybe 1-2 tsp

Wash 2 & 1/2 cups of rice in several changes of water and spread out to dry. This is my Mom's tip, I usually have no patience to dry the rice. But she says that the rice needs to be dry else it will break.

Add the paste you made and fry till the masala is cooked. Any excess water should be evaporated and there will be oil seeping out of the edges of the masala

Add 1 cup of chopped mixed vegetables. It can be beans, carrots, peas etc. I added 1 cup of frozen corn, carrots and peas. Fry the vegetables for 3-4 minutes.

Add 1 tsp of Corriander Powder, 1/2 tsp of Garam masala powder and fry for a minute or so

Add the rice and fry for the next couple of minutes

Add 41/2-5 cups of water for 2&1/2 cups of rice. Add salt to taste. Let the water come to a boil. Once the water has come to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover and cook the rice.

While the rice is cooking boil 4 eggs in a separate pan. When eggs are boiled, cool and peel them. Cut egg in slices. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add 1/4 cup of chopped onions and fry till onion is brown. Add the egg slices, 1/2 tsp of Kashmiri Mirch, little salt and fry the egg slices for 2-3 minutes

Once the rice is done, add the fried egg mix on top and mix gently. Sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves and 1/2 tsp of Garam Masala powder. Cover and let it sit till you serve with a raita.

33 comments:

I was told.. long back whenever.. that if I were to wash the rice too much or soak for too long it will break. Then later on somewhere else I have heard that if you don't put enough oil while saute-ing rice (in pulav) the rice grains won't get coated with oil. So they will stick and "get mashed and/or break" while mixing the pulav. So I try to avoid over washing and over mixing. This answer far exceeds 140 characters. Do let us know here what answers you get from twitterers. Cheerio!

I don't wash or soak rice I get as books say I should do. I get the long grain from regular grocery store which is fortified with Vitamins, so it tells me not to wash. Then I add rice, water and a a tsp of oil when I cook rice in the Microwave, when done I wait for 10mins to cool and fluff it with a fork. I am talking about plain white rice. For Pulao, I always cook rice first, cool and then make masala, mix them together. That's how I roll!!:D

I got Facebook, never got me interested, so didn't open a Twitter. No Tweets for me, find it boring to read about "I am looking out of the window" etc.Egg Palao is yum, must try for kids this week. School is over today!:)

I agree with your Mom that drying the washed rice is important another tips that my Maa gives is not to stir it much. cook on low heat and shake the pan a lil whenever youfeel you need to stir.but I have one question for you how much oil to use? guess thats also important.the egg pulao looks easy and delicious.love anything with boiled egg in it.

I had to laugh out loud reading your remark about your hubby. I am still laughing while typing this :-) I sometimes soak for 10 minutes and if i don't have time i don't wash and soak just put them straight.BS sound slike shyama when she comes home for lunch she starts talking and talking and I am like eat your food otherwise you will be late to school. But that one doesn't stop and then when she comes home in the late afternoon afer school is fully finished she starts again...

Thank god or twitter for that limit of 140 words .. else Bong mom's cookbook would have become Bong mom's cook book AT twitter. Na na ... amra ekhanei tomar lekha chai ... joto lomba likhte paro likhe jao. :-)No soaking works ... also when checking if the rice is done, if you notice that the outside is done and the inside is a little tough, remove from or switch off heat immediately, cover and keep awhile. Then fluff up with a fork ... dana gulo chara chara hoye jabe.

Sandeepa,I am so smiling reading your account of twitter here :).I DON"T tweet or do facebook ..so I have no idea how things work there, but I enjoy reading your blog , so for me no need to tweet etc ..and for pulao-I dont need to add about soaking as you ,SS and Sayantani have said already.use enough oil for proper frying ,that too at med to low flame for 7-9 mints till rice acquire some shine.Add 1-2 tsp of oil while frying the rice with vegetables ,masala etc..Although I prefer cooking rice first and then mixing with the fried masala ,I agree with Asha here :-)(Baking rice with the vegetables ,pilaf also results in good pulao)Long grain rice like high quality basmati rice works fine for pulao.If you think rice is overcooked then After the pulao is done,sprinkle some lemon juice over the pulao,this stops overcooking the rice.Keep the lid half open so that the moisture doesn't get trapped,extra moisture means over-cooked,soggy ,or broekn rice.These are just tried little bit of tricks.Hope it helps here.I love egg pulao and yours look so good :)..hugs and smiles

Sandeepa,hain, ekto half open rakhbe ..moisture ta escape hote debe, taar por close kore rakhte paro..and if you think rice is not properly cooked, transfer it in hot-pots ,cello etc ..it will trap the moisture and rice will be cooked.In fact switch off the flame when rice is 3/4 done and then transfer it to hot-pots that may also work here :-)..hugs and smiles

I used to soak and dry the rice at first and found that it broke too (I think the drying tip works for short grained rice like 'Govind bhog'). Now I simply soak and then let the rice drain in a strainer, no drying. I fry the rice well in the tempering before adding double the amount of water. I also make sure to use a large enough pot to allow the rice grains to expand well and not clump. All this seems to work. I use Basmati.

Dear SandeepaYour question is very intersting. If you want to keep the rice intact, dont fry,If you have to, just very gently mix few times and add water or yakhnee.No one fries rice as it doesn't contribute to flavour or taste. However traditionally Bong's fry rice a bit in Pulao. In early days only parboiled rice ( seddo chal) was used in all Bong Pulao. Recently we have shifted to raw rice. Parboiled rice normally doesn't break with gentle mixing.

You should not soak rice for more than 30 min. The surface is soaked and the whole rice should not become soaked. If you dont soak, it is OK.parboiled rice needs a longer soaking. I am going to cook your recipe shortly and will follow word by word except, I shall add the 5 cup water 1st and then the rice.To summarize, in order to prevent breaking, mix very gently, preferably avoid totally. Always add water 1st and them rice. Biriyani rice is half cooked in huge quantity of water and drained. So the grains remain in tact.I hope it is useful for you.Bhalo theko.PS. I use the cheapest long grain rice. But normally u should buy a branded high ended rice when you invite people. The difference is, if the rice contains 1-4 % broken rice, the price is just half and those broken rice ( Khud) makes a mess out of Pulao

Sandeepa, this egg rice recipe is interesting. Looks so delicious! Re Twitter: I always scrap my head what to write there. Re rice: I use jasmine rice for everything, for pulav, plain rice or anything. It does works just well. I normally soak rice for 15-20 mins in cold (tap) water. and boil in 4-5 cups of water, adding 1 tsp oil + little salt. It will be done in mins (approx 7-8 mins) and ur rice will be fluffy and separate by each grain. May be this helps. :)

I am on Twitter and quite like it, as I find its a nice way to keep in touch with friends. Have made many new ones too. Btw, not veryone does only "washing my hair" tweets! LOLAs for FB, I'm terrible at that. :(

About breaking rice grains, sometimes it is because of the quality of rice. I find the cheaper varieties do tend to break. And it doesn't help if the rice is stirred much when its cooking.I don't soak rice for biryani or pulao, just cook it straight.

I loved this recipe. Also, when I am making a rice item:1) wash rice twice, DO NOT use too much force, be very gentle here.2) Soak for 20 mins atleast. Rice DOES need to soak,to ensure uniform cooking.3)Pulao: Add warm/hot water after stir-frying soaked, drained rice grains.4)Biryani: Add rice AFTER water comes to a roiling boil. Parboil accordingly.5) If you have observed a pot of water with rice on the boil, you will notice that the oil does not work as we think to hold apart each grain...it rises up to float to the top...hence, use 1 tbsp. lemon juice to keep your rice grains apart....the taste is not altered.That is the same reason you add lemon juice as a topping before dumming your biryanis....hope my two cents help....good luck in the kitchen.

Thanks Everyone I have got enough conflicting opinions to last me a life time :-) I am going to try all the pointers hopefully one by one, but I don't make a Pulao everyday so it will take time till we reach a consensus.

Aparna

No of course not. I mean that is about as interesting my life gets ;-)

DebasishNo, it IS QUICK :-) as compared to making dal, bhaat, macher jhol

I have come to the conclusion that vigorous washing damages all sorts of rice, but I also overlook instructions to just wipe the rice and cook it as it is - my idea is that broken rice is better than rice that has merely been wiped.

Good quality basmati is key! It depends upon the crop (old or new) new will turn break, old needs more water.*Soak 10 min, add in pressure cooker and leave one whistle. U should have a perfect pulao.* not mixing often will help alsoTwitter and FB : just opened for sake!

hi Bong mom,i hav been following your posts, sply. the older ones for quite sumtime. I am a perfect novice in the field and find your recipes a grt help. the preludes u add are fun to read. i enjoy every bit of your posts. egg-pulao looks yummy. will try this weekend. i am he one who follows each and every step of yours religiously, as does not hav much to contribute from my own.

Bong Mom, my polao used to have broken rice, too, but it seems I have finally cracked it. I always make it a point now to nicely coat the rice grains with curd, about 1 and a half tsp for one cup of rice, before putting it in the pot for cooking. I think the curd keeps the rice from getting overcooked and therefore from being broken. But I could be wrong, and it might just be that my luck with polao has finally turned.

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine